A Comparison of Marbled Slipware Plates, Some of Which Were Recovered from Early Contexts on Long Island

As I have previously written, I have been posting pictures of various objects from my private collection to my Facebook and Instagram accounts, which will continue for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. And this is a piece that I just posted this morning.

Published in the October 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest is a research story I wrote about domestic red earthenware found in New York City in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, titled, "The Red Earthenware Available in the 18th and 19th Centuries in New York City." Among the illustrated artifacts were two three-color marbleized red earthenware plates recovered from separate contexts on Long Island (see below), although, they are probably from the same manufacturer. One of the plates was recovered from a foundation hole on central Long Island in the 1970s; the other plate was recovered on Shelter Island along the eastern end of Long Island.

To my knowledge, the manufacturer of these objects has not been identified, but it was a style of red earthenware produced at some businesses in the northeast in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Nevertheless, the two-color marbled slipware plate that my niece Alexis is holding here is similar to the plates found on Long Island; the colors are very similar, as is the manufacture of plate. All three of these objects may be related. But I also want to note that the type of lighting used for these pictures likely accounts for the differences seen in the glaze colors - for instance, my niece is pictured holding this plate yesterday, which was a bright sunny day with nearly not a cloud in the sky. The other plates were photographed indoors with darker lighting.

With all of that said, these three plates may have been made by John Betts Gregory (1782-1842) at the Huntington Pottery on Long Island in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Gregory is known for using multiple colors of slip later in his career in Clinton, New York; Gregory also worked in Norwalk, Connecticut. The archaeological context of the two recovered plates match up as to when Gregory was employed on Long Island.

A Comparison of Marbled Slipware Plates

Two-Color Marbled Red Earthenware Plate

Possibly Made by John Betts Gregory at the Huntington Pottery on Long Island

Circa Late 18th or Early 19th Century
Possibly Related to the Two Pieces Illustrated Below

See Article for More Information

Late 18th or 19th Century Marbled Red Earthenware Plate

Recovered from a Foundation Hole in Central Long Island in the 1970s

Possibly Made by John Betts Gregory at the Huntington Pottery on Long Island

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Gary Hammond - Long Island

Late 18th or 19th Century Marbled Red Earthenware Dish
Recovered on Shelter Island Located on the Eastern End of Long Island
Possibly Made by John Betts Gregory at the Huntington Pottery on Long Island
See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Anthony Butera - Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY

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